Cecilia Braekhus Is The Best Women's Fighter In The World -- And She's Not Doing It To Get Rich

Cecilia Braekhus, the best women’s fighter in the world, didn’t start boxing for money. Or for fame. Or for notoriety. Even as Braekhus enters the ring Saturday in Moscow against the undefeated Inna Sagaydakovskaya, Braekhus isn’t targeting a big-money fight against Claressa Shields or Christina Hammer. Nope, she’s fighting for the same reason she’s always fought.

Cecilia Braekhus, left, is defending her welterweight title in Moscow on Saturday. (Photo by Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty Images)

“I box because it’s fun, because I like to punch other girls,” Braekhus said with a laugh, perhaps only partially kidding. “I love this sport. That’s the reason why the women get into it. It’s not because we get famous or to get rich. They only do it for the love of it. If we make the money, that’s a huge bonus.”

For now, Braekhus (33-0, 9 KOs) is likely one of the top female moneymakers in the sport. No, she’s not pulling in tens of millions of dollars per bout like Anthony Joshua and Canelo Alvarez. Instead, in her last fight, on an HBO undercard featuring Gennady Golovkin vs. Vanes Martirosyan in the main event, Braekhus—the undisputed welterweight champion of the world—earned a $50,000 purse.

Not bad money, but not Golovkin money either. But for Braekhus, that’s not the point.

“Women definitely don’t go into boxing because they want to make money,” she said. “We know there is a 0% chance—or very a little percentage—for us to make big money.”

Braekhus, though, is providing something more to the sport. She’s the No. 1 pound for pound women’s fighter during a time when the women in boxing are becoming more famous and more respected. Shields is fighting in main events on Showtime. Katie Taylor from Ireland is a potential star. Christina Hammer and Hanna Gabriels are unified champions and have shown the ability to make exciting matchups.

Sure, there have been other times in women’s boxing history where stars were born. Think Christy Martin in the 1990s and Laila Ali in the first decade of this century. But this time in boxing is different for women, Braekhus said.

“Way, way, way back when I first went back to the gym, I was the only girl,” Braekhus said. “I was looked at like, ‘What are you doing?’ People were asking why I had big muscles. This was only 15 years ago. ... Now, it’s way different. Today, this is organized on so many different levels. We have the Olympics for amateurs and the level is much higher, because countries are starting to invest more money. The networks and promoters are showing female boxing much more. More women get paid more money.”

Braekhus is doing her best to showcase her skills—and proving why people should be paying attention whenever she steps into the ring—around the world. She’s a native of Norway, but she has no qualms about fighting anywhere around the globe. On Saturday, she’ll fight in Russia. In May, she fought in California. In previous years, while defending her titles, she’s fought in Germany, Denmark and Finland.

For Braekhus, it makes sense. Yes, she’s taking a risk by battling her opponents in their home countries—especially when they can gain an advantage through crowd support or potentially biased judging—but she’s the world champion. In her mind, that means she gets to travel the world and defend her belts against opponents from every corner on earth.

People have taken notice.

“She sells out 10,000 seat arenas in Norway and does big television ratings …” promoter Tom Loeffler said before Braekhus’ May fight. “She is the only undisputed [champ] in the sport of boxing … I think that Cecilia has that personality to be a star.”

In May, she battled opponent Kali Reis in the first ever women’s fight to be shown live on HBO. The bout averaged 904,000 viewers and peaked at 1.024 million, the third-most watched fight of any gender on premium cable this year. But it wasn’t easy.

Though Braekhus was clearly the superior fighter, Reis knocked her down in the seventh round and wobbled her at the end of the eighth. It leads one to wonder if Braekhus' skills are beginning to decline just when the women are more popular than ever.

Braekhus is 36, and though she jokes with a reporter about the assumption that she’s advancing in her years (“Are you calling me old?” she mocked with a laugh), you have to wonder how long she can stay at the top of the sport.

Perhaps Sagaydakovskaya (7-0, 3 KOs)—a +800 underdog—can answer some of those questions. As she points out, she is slightly taller than Braekhus (she’s 5-foot-9 to Braekhus’s 5-7), she has a longer reach, and she probably possesses more punching power. Sagaydakovskaya also was a competitive cross-country skier, so she thinks she has better stamina than Braekhus.

But Braekhus, as far as we know, is still the best female fighter in the world. And she’s not simply fighting for the big paydays. She’s fighting for her love of the sport.

“It’s a complicated question. You have to think about the money. You have to have something when you stop doing your boxing career,” Braekhus said. “You also have to have a plan outside of the boxing ring. But you cannot make a decision based on money either, because that can lead you to bad decisions. Maybe you will make some quick money but in the long run, it could be more damaging than good. Yes, think about the money. But also think about your name, who you want to be and who you want to represent.”